FLINT, MI -- Michael Brown will soon be out of office and Flint is in line for a new emergency financial manager now that the Michigan Supreme Court has ordered that Public Act 4 go before voters in November for possible repeal.

A split Michigan Supreme Court on Friday afternoon issued a ruling
ordering the state Board of Canvassers to certify a referendum of Public
Act 4 for the November ballot, settling months of
litigation over the petition wording's font size.

Once it's certified, which could happen next week, then Public Act 4
would be suspended and Brown will be out as Flint emergency manager.

In Public Act 4's absence, the previous version of the law, Public Act 72,
would go into effect, officials said.

Brown isn't eligible for the office under the old law because he worked for the city
within the past five years, which is against Public Act 72 guidelines. Brown served as temporary mayor of Flint for
six months before Mayor Dayne Walling was elected in August 2009.

Still, Brown said Friday the court did the right thing Friday by ruling that the petitions calling for a referendum of the law be certified.

The group behind the referendum turned in more than 225,000 petition signatures.

"I'll certainly abide by what the people say," Brown said hours after the high court issued the ruling that effectively torpedoes his tenure as emergency manager. "Frankly, I think the Supreme Court made the right decision."

All of the currently serving emergency managers, except for Brown, will be recommended for reappointment under the old law, state Treasurer Andy Dillon said Friday.

Dillon said he has a replacement emergency financial manager in mind for Flint, but declined to name the individual Friday. The process for appointing emergency financial managers under the old law is different than under Public Act 4, he said.

Brown said he's aware of some names that are being talked about for his successor, but said it's not his place to reveal them.

Dillon said state officials are glad Brown has agreed to assist with the transition.

"We've been in constant discussion with him," he said. "(He'll do) whatever's necessary to have a seamless transition in Flint."

Brown's tenure in Flint has been controversial. He implemented a 2013 budget that eliminated a projected $25 million deficit and maintained public safety staffing levels, but also imposed concessions on some of the city's unions and raised fees that affected some of the city's poorest residents.

He also rolled out a public safety plan.

Both the president of the Flint police patrol officers union, Officer Kevin Smith, and the vice president of the Flint firefighters' union said
Brown has done a good job for the city and has attempted to be fair with
the unions.

Smith said he believed in the long term that Brown was going to provide assistance for the city's first responders. He said the patrol officers were in ongoing talks with Brown and they
were attempting to work something out with him.

"I think his heart was there, it just is what it is," Smith said. "I'll be
curious to see who the next EFM (emergency financial manager) is."

Kovach said he's concerned
about the transition between Brown and a new
emergency financial manager. He believes Brown has done a good job, and
it will be difficult for someone to catch up to where he is now.

"Most definitely, whether it be an emergency financial
manager or a new mayor that comes in to town there is always a period of time
which the new person has to get up to speed with the finances and the problems
facing the city," Kovach said. "With the city of Flint's financial situation I think it is
very crucial that you have some kind of congruency there."

Smith is hopeful the replacement EFM will be fair.

"My hope going forward is we get treated as fairly as the
other unions and they at least get us back on track with that, and when we have
a new emergency manager, mayor, or a council that they come to the table with
fair bargaining," Smith said. "That's all we want, we just want to have some talks and be
fair."

Once the law is suspended, Brown said he'll go back to work as president of the Prima Civitas Foundation, an East Lansing-based nonprofit economic development and consulting firm.

If voters uphold Public Act 4 in November and state officials ask Brown to come back, he said he "absolutely" would do it.

Brown, who was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder on Dec. 1, said his administration made a lot of progress, but there's still more to do.

"We did a lot of heavy
lifting over those seven or eight months," he said. "We're not close to being out of the woods.

"Flint's problems with being without resources to get the
job done and being able to serve people are going to continue."

The Supreme Court's ruling was a victory for opponents of the law, who say Public Act 4 undermines
the democratic process by granting unelected emergency managers broad
powers to rule local cities and schools.

Bishop Bernadel Jefferson of Flint's Faith Deliverance Center was one of hundreds of people who helped collect signatures for Stand Up for Democracy, the group behind the referendum of Public Act 4.

"I hated that it had to come to this, that it went so far," she said. "But at the end, the people were heard. I'm glad our voice will be heard."

But Snyder's administration is fighting to keep the spirit of the emergency manager law intact.

"One
of (Public Act 4's) primary goals is to identify financial emergencies before they
become full-blown crises," Snyder said in a statement. "Suspending the law limits the state's ability to
offer early intervention and assistance, and eliminates important tools that
emergency managers need to address financial emergencies as quickly and
efficiently as possible."

His administration supports legislation that would update the old law and
include some of the same components as Public Act 4, Dillon said.

That did not sit well with Jefferson, who said it sounds like the administration is trying to undermine the referendum.

"They're still trying to have it their way and that's not what democracy
calls for," she said. "We're not under a dictatorship, we're under a
democracy."

"The people will have their vote in November," she said in a
statement. "We're simply discussing clarifying PA 72 to help prevent
confusion,
chaos and protect our communities and schools, along with our state's
taxpayers. These emergencies aren't going away, and the Governor feels
strongly
that we must ensure our state's communities and schools succeed both
short and
long-term."

Still unknown is when the Board of Canvassers will meet to certify the referendum for the ballot.

As
of Friday afternoon, no meeting had been scheduled, said Secretary of
State spokesman Fred Woodhams. The Bureau of Elections was still
reviewing the decision, a process that could take several days, he said.

"They
certainly would want to do it as soon as they're able to," he said.
"It's a 62-page ruling. It's just a matter of what the court ordered in
its ruling."

The font size dispute worked its way from the state
Board of Canvassers to the Court of Appeals then to the Michigan Supreme
Court, which heard oral arguments in the case on July 25.

After
unusually fast-tracked deliberations, the supreme court on issued a
series of complex opinions, in which a majority ruled that the petitions
be certified for the ballot.

The court also overturned a lower
court's ruling that says petitions' font size can "substantially comply"
with the law and still be certified.

The court ruled that "actual
compliance" is the new standard, but still said the Public Act 4
petitions should be certified.

Staff writers Tim Martin in Lansing and Amanda Emery in Flint contributed to this report.